I saw an elderly woman once waiting for the bus. While waiting, she tapped her white cane along the sidewalk until she reached a nearby jasmine vine in full bloom. She steadied herself and leaned into the flowers. I could almost hear her inhale that sweet perfume.

This is why I am a photographer. Because moments talk, moments are fleeting and moments are lost in an instant.

I am touched by the unique way each of us carry ourselves through life. Here we are, born into it, experiencing it, and leaving it behind in the blink of an eye. Our individuality affects me in a way that I find difficult to convey with words.

As different as we are, we share, as humans, a universal experience. We come to know joy and sorrow, love and pain and so much more.

Life is rich with experience no matter who we are. We are certainly much more than our differences. We have to ask ourselves, how do we want to be remembered as individuals and as a society?

My job as a photographer is to catch universal experiences that I believe, unite us. My goal is to celebrate our differences without losing sight of our shared humanity. My hope is to lessen our tendency to separate ourselves from one another.

And lastly, my photography is to honor those with whom we roam the earth – all beasts, great and small. I am motivated to speak for those that cannot speak for themselves. I owe them mercy and gratitude. Animals have enriched my life without asking for anything in return. My life would be significantly less without them.